The present invention relates generally to candlewicks and, more particularly, to identification of a candlewick following its removal from a spool.
The need for candlewick identification, once it has left the manufacturer, has been a constant source of concern for candle makers. Despite the candlewick being less than 1% of the cost of a finished candle, putting the wrong candlewick into a candle during production translates into thousands of dollars in lost revenue by manufacturing defective, and possibly unsafe, products. This loss not only includes the candlewick, but also other items such as wax, scents, dyes, labor and most importantly lost production time.
The labeling of candlewick has historically involved affixing identification stickers or labels to both the inside and outside of a supply spool prior to filling the spool with candlewick. This method of labeling the supply spools provides adequate identification of the candlewick until the point that it is removed from the spool for production, handling or other forms of processing such as chemical treating, dying, bleaching, waxing, cutting and tabbing. Once the wick is separated from the identified spool, it may be easily misidentified by even the most trained of eyes. Unless strict safeguards are placed into effect and followed preventing the incorrect re-labeling of the candlewick, there is a significant risk for mis-identification of the wick.
Once the candlewick has been, or is suspected of being mis-identified, the only sure way to adequately and properly xe2x80x9cre-identifyxe2x80x9d the candlewick is to return samples of the candlewick to lab technicians who must reverse engineer the sample into its core composition and construction. Once analyzed by the technicians, the candlewick is then matched against the production methods and compositions of the candlewick manufacturer""s known products until an exact match is found to properly identify the candlewick.
Accordingly, there is a need for improving the identification of candlewick following its removal from a spool to insure that the proper candlewick is selected during candle production.
The present invention overcomes the foregoing and other shortcomings and drawbacks of known methods for identifying candlewick. While the invention will be described in connection with certain embodiments, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention includes all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a method and apparatus are provided for printing indicia onto a candlewick which may include information that identifies the wick and/or provides any other desired information or graphics on the wick which may assist the candle maker in identifying the wick during the candle making process. In this way, candle manufacturers can, with certainly, identify the candlewick following its removal from a supply spool to be assured that the proper wick is selected for a particular candle production.
Due to the extremely small size of candlewick (typically having a diameter in a range from between about 1.0 mm to about 2.4 mm), the irregular shapes of various candlewick (flat, round, oblong, triangular, square, etc), the texture of the candlewick caused by twisting, plaiting, weaving, braiding or other processing of the candlewick fibers to make the wick, and the porous nature of candlewick fibers, printing information directly onto the candlewick fibers themselves is not feasible. To overcome the porous nature of candlewick which would tend to xe2x80x9cbleedxe2x80x9d any indicia applied directly to the candlewick fibers, as well as the numerous irregular shapes and textures of candlewick surfaces, the present invention includes applying an outer coating to the fibers of the candlewick prior to the printing process.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a printer, such as an ink jet print head, is used to print the indicia onto the coated candlewick at selected intervals as the candlewick moves relative to the printer from a supply spool at one end of the wick to a take-up spool at an opposite end of the wick. A registration mechanism is provided to align the candlewick relative to the printer during the printing process to center the wick horizontally (i.e., in the cross-machine direction) beneath the printer. A printer control is operatively coupled to the printer and has a user input and display that permits a user to enter and/or select the indicia to be printed onto the candlewick and displays printing information for the user.
The present invention provides a significant benefit to candle manufacturers of all types of candles by providing printed information on the candlewick that identifies the wick and/or any other desired information or graphics on the wick which may assist the candle maker in identifying the wick during the candle making process.